A Simple Vaginal Ring Can Reduce the Risk of HIV Infection

This evidently - look silicone polymer ring is more useful than it looks . Doped with an data-based antiretroviral drug , when fag in the vagina by women in sub - Saharan Africa it was shown to cut back the hazard of HIV infection by as much as 61 percent .

The ring is part of a large field of study called ASPIRE , which is designed to square off whether an experimental antiretroviral drug called dapivirine can help oneself prevent HIV infection . The study enter 2,600 clean women between 18 to 45 years of age in web site around Malawi , South Africa , Uganda , and Zimbabwe . All of the woman were considered at high-pitched - hazard for HIV infection .

Each cleaning woman was given either a dapivirine or placebo ring at random , which was replaced every four weeks . Over the duration of the written report , which started in 2012 , their wellness was monitored by the researchers .

William Duplessie

The findings , published in theNew England Journal of Medicine , ground that the dapivirine ring reduced the risk of acquiring HIV by 27 percent . When the team discarded information interrelate to women who did n’t return during the study , that figure rose to 37 percent .

Interestingly , when the squad looked at datum for just those women age 25 and above , the figure flash up even further , to 61 per centum . The squad notes that women under 25 seemed to use the ring less consistently , which could account for its decrease efficacy amongst the untried participants .

The ring is by no means a concluded solution to HIV transmission . But it does render an redundant line of defense and is endue for woman in regions where use of condom is often discrepant . The researcher will continue to canvass the hoop and its efficacy , particularly attempt to establish how they can increase its effectiveness among younger women .

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